I am a theoretical astrophysicist with particular interests in
the field of astrophysical gas dynamics. Early in my career
I worked on problems of the interstellar medium, clusters of galaxies,
and galactic dynamics, but since 1990 I have focused my attention on
the behavior of accretion disks. An accretion disk consists of gas
in rotation about a central mass, which could be an ordinary star,
or a collapsed object such as a white dwarf, neutron star, or
black hole. When they are even slightly magnetized, accretion disks are
extremely unstable
to what is known as the magnetorotational instability. This instability
disrupts the gas from smooth laminar flow and renders it turbulent.
This is now thought to be the underyling physical mechanism for
accretion disk ''viscosity,'' once-upon-a-time a longstanding problem in theoretical
astrophysics.
I am currently pursuing studies, in a wide variety of fluids,
of the consequences of this
intrinsically magnetohydrodynamical turbulence.

More recently, I have also become interested in the problem of
differential rotation in stellar convective zones, particularly
the case of the Sun. I am
studying the possibility that the rotation profile of stars with
solar-like outer convective envelopes may be a consequence
of little more than
vorticity generation in a nonbarotropic flow (so-called
thermal wind balance), and a near confluence
of surfaces of constant angular velocity and constant
''residual'' entropy. Now, read more below in the section
Selected Recent Papers...

Update May 2012: I will be moving to the Physics Department of Oxford
University as Savilian Professor of Astronomy. The starting date
of this appointment is 1 September 2012.

A Simple Model for Solar Isorotation Contours.
(Balbus, S. A. 2009, MNRAS,395, 2056.)
An analytic model for the solar convection zone (SCZ) isorotation contours based on the
solution of the thermal wind equation and the assumption that constant
entropy and constant rotation surfaces coincide. The latter is a
requirement for the SCZ to be marginally stable against magneto-baroclinic instability,
just as an adiabatic temperature profile is a requirement for marginal stability
against a purely convective instability.

On Differential Rotation and Convection in the Sun.
(Balbus, S. A., Bonart, J., Latter, H. N., and Weiss, N. O. 2009, MNRAS,400, 176.)
A detailed comparison between the solution of the thermal wind equation
and GONG data reveals a precise quantitative match, away from the boundary layers
at the Sun's outer surface and tachocline. As an alternative to MHD, a
purely hydrodynamical explanation is
put forth for this result, which obviates the need for entropy and angular velocity
surfaces to coincide. Instead, only the "residual" entropy, the entropy left after
a (convection-driving) radial profile has been subtracted, coincides with the
angular velocity.
The figure below shows the fit between theoretical
calculation (white curves) and the helioseismology GONG data (dark curves).

Differential Rotation in Fully Convective Stars.
(Balbus, S. A. and Weiss, N. O. 2010, MNRAS, 404, 1263.)
A generalization of the mathematical solution for the isorotation contours in the
Sun to fully convective stars. The figures below show solutions for a solar-like
surface profile (left), and an anti-solar profile (right), which rotates more
rapidly at the poles than the equator.

The Effect of the Tachocline on Differential Rotation in the Sun.
(Balbus, S. A. and Latter, H. N. 2010, MNRAS, 407, 2565.)
A global mathematical solution for the solar differential rotation profile
resulting from
localized quadrupolar forcing, represented as a (very simple)
inhomogeneous term in the thermal wind equation.
The leftmost figure shows the calculated isorotation contours; the second from the
left is
an image of the same contours taken from GONG data
circa 2009 (with thanks to R. Howe); the third from the left shows
a superposition of a
calculated solution (black) with the data (red).
A remarkable and quite unmistakable
tachocline structure is apparent in our mathematical solution,
which is in good agreement with the helioseismology data. Finally, the rightmost
image shows recent results that include the outer boundary layer, this time
with a very simple forcing term beyond 0.97 solar radii.
(In case of difficulties
viewing, click on the individual image.)

Global Model of Differential Rotation in the Sun.
(Balbus, S. A., Latter, H., and Weiss, N. 2012, MNRAS, in press.)
A demonstration that the mathematical solution of the previous paper does not
require terms external to the thermal wind equation, but emerges naturally
when the functional relationship between (residual) entropy and angular
velocity takes its most general form. The image below superposes an analytic
solution of the thermal wind equation with helioseismology data.